We're trying something new!
[p]As RuneScape continues its march into our bold new era, we want you to be part of our journey, every step of the way. That means giving you greater visibility on what's coming down the road, so that you know exactly what to expect, and when.[/p][p]On the first Monday of each calendar month, we plan to share a "Month Ahead" view with you which dives a little deeper than our 2026 roadmap. We'll be giving you details of what's happening week-by-week and much further ahead than previously. For now, we want to keep things simple, but we do want to hear your thoughts on how these Month Aheads are structured! Understanding what information is important and how you want to receive it, will help us ensure that you stay informed at all times. [/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/38802315/6c9472c12d4f29d96abaafbbb0c13ff4dfa05619.jpg"][/img][/p]So how does it work?
- [p]For the month ahead, all updates or content releases for the game, will be noted in the golden container or the parchment visual (e.g. "New Quest" or "Combat Update").[/p][/*]
- [p]Below that, we have the "Community Topics", which are topics for discussion that we will be talking to you about during the relevant week.[/p][list]
- [p]How exactly those topics will unfold is something we want to share at the start of each week. Sometimes these might be a straight-forward blog on a set day, other times they might be previews, feedback gathering threads, streams, podcast appearances or curated discussions on Discord. Hopefully also a mixture of the above![/p][/*]
The aim is to always provide you with the information to know what we're talking about when, and how you can get involved. Of course, the nature of development does mean that sometimes things may shift around a little and we may need to push a planned update back to ensure that it lives up to our standards and your expectations. When that happens, we'll try to provide an update in the next suited "This Week in RuneScape" blog that usually rolls out on a Monday.
One final note: While community topics in this month will be spaced quite close to their respective updates, this won't always be the case. We will likely be raising some topics for discussion quite far ahead of their official implementation into the game, so that we will have more time to action feedback from you.
[/p]
Let's put it all into practice:
For this week:
Content:
- [p]'Princess and the Pauper (New Quest):[/p][list]
- [p]Today sees the launch of a new quest and a cosy mystery set in Fort Forinthry where you’ll help Princess the Spaniel clear her name when food starts going missing...[/p][/*]
Integrity Updates:
- [p]Combat Style Modernisation Beta[/p][list]
- [p]This week is the continuation of our Combat Style Modernisation Beta. To find out more about that and how to take part, check out our dedicated blog post here.[/p][/*]
Community Topics:
- [p]Shaping our Community Together[/p][list]
- [p]As part of this topic, our new Lead Community Manager Mod Anvil introduces himself, dives into the state of the RuneScape Community and looks for your thoughts on how we create an even better community[/p][/*]
- [p]This blog can be read here.[/p][/*]
- [p]In this dedicated blog post directly from Mod Ryan and Mod Breezy, we will deepdive on the lay of the land and our design pillars, vision, and philosophies as we build toward a new future for RuneScape.[/p][/*]
- [p]This blog is scheduled for Wednesday, February 4th[/p][/*]
- [p]Picking up where the previous blog leaves off, this blog will provide you with a preview of how we intend to rebalance the Early Game and tackle Dailyscape.[/p][/*]
- [p]This blog is scheduled for Friday, February 6th[/p][/*]
For the rest of the month:
[p] The "Regrounding Items" project is about making visuals and worn items fit better thematically into the world of RuneScape as we work towards something that is more immersive and consistent with the game. We'll be previewing some of this work during the week of the 9th, with the update coming into effect during the week of the 23rd.For the "Aura Overhaul" topic, we'll be previewing our design direction for how to tackle Auras during the week of the 9th, though the associated update itself will still be further off.
In week three, we will also be sharing our key learnings from the combat beta in the week before the update comes into effect.
To round off the month, we'll be sharing our first design direction and what we want our changes to the Grand Exchange to achieve.
[/p]
[p]Hopefully the above outlines have given you a clearer understanding of what to expect in the coming weeks, and especially when you can get involved and feedback on the things that matter to you. Do let us know if you have any ideas on how we improve things! For now, read on to find out all about this weeks patch notes, or join us on our first dedicated Topic: Shaping the Community.[/p][p][/p][p][/p]
Additional Regular Maintenance:
[p]As part of our ongoing work to improve the infrastructure and core experience of our games, from tomorrow (Tuesday, February 3rd) we are going to be starting a continued maintenance schedule.[/p][p align="start"]While this does mean a little bit more downtime each week and additional breaks for Mod ????, it will give our core infrastructure teams a more consistent timeline to continually update our systems and backend tech, rather than our current sporadic approach. So, what can you expect?[/p][p align="start"]At its core, we will be scheduling maintenance for every Tuesday at 9am UTC. During this time, both games will be taken offline for improvements with downtime usually lasting ~20 minutes. While this will normally be the case, there may be some instances that will warrant a longer period of downtime. We are also looking to slightly alleviate those who are always online around that time, with every fourth period of maintenance happening at the later time of 11am UTC, with no changes in the amount of downtime stated above. Any period of downtime will be accompanied with a 45-minute shutdown timer to give you plenty of notice.[/p][p align="start"]You may wonder why not just have these periods alongside the regular Game Update? While that approach does have benefits, we are still taking down both games and we believe it is better for both to go offline as this work can and will crossover with both games and other wider supporting systems. This approach also means if any issues arise then we can isolate investigating the problem with the maintenance work taking place, rather than trying to first identify whether it comes from game changes or external ones.[/p][p align="start"]The team have already been doing some great maintenance work without it directly affecting both games (which we spoke about in our previous Spudworks blogs), but this is a continued effort to get our infrastructure into a place where the team are able to perform even more maintenance without needing to bring the games down.[/p][p align="start"]To start off, here is the first batch of upcoming maintenance you can expect:[/p]| [p]Date[/p] | [p]Time[/p] | [p]Duration[/p] | [/tr]
|---|---|---|
| [p]Tuesday, February 3rd[/p] | [p]9am UTC[/p] | [p]~20 minutes[/p] | [/tr]
| [p]Tuesday, February 10th[/p] | [p]9am UTC[/p] | [p]~20 minutes[/p] | [/tr]
| [p]Tuesday, February 17th[/p] | [p]9am UTC[/p] | [p]~20 minutes[/p] | [/tr]
| [p]Tuesday, February 24th[/p] | [p]9am UTC[/p] | [p]~20 minutes[/p] | [/tr]
| [p]Tuesday, March 3rd[/p] | [p]11am UTC[/p] | [p]~20 minutes[/p] | [/tr]
Patch Notes:
- [p]Fixed an issue that prevented pickpocketing in Prifddinas to fail.[/p][/*]
- [p]Resolved an issue where the safes found in heists were not completing the thieving daily challenge for safes.[/p][/*]
- [p]Scuffle at Harvest Hollow no longer mentions being able to participate in the Maize Maze an infinite number of times nor being able to fletch ranged tools.[/p][/*]
- [p]Fixed a typo when examining Mal in the 'Succession' quest.[/p][/*]
- [p]The Barbarian Scavenger achievement has been removed.[/p][list]
- [p]It was identical to the Otto the Ancient achievement, other than the former required by Trimmed Completionist Cape and the latter required by Master Quest Cape. comp(t) has required MQC since June 2023, so no need for multiple achievements.[/p][/*]
- [p]Barbarian Scavenger's 30 RuneScore has been re-distributed to the Eastern Adventurer achievement, which has been split into 4 achievements to better track progress toward completing all and accommodate any future Player Owned Ports story voyages.[/p][/*]
